


Skeletons

by Kissun13, Leodinia



Category: Sleeping Dogs (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Male/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:27:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23509888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kissun13/pseuds/Kissun13, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leodinia/pseuds/Leodinia
Summary: What’s a better way to heal from a traumatizing event than a sleepover with your best friend? A self-indulgent fix-it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Skeletons

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by and created with the amazing  Kissun13. Thank you so much for starting this journey with me!! <3 
> 
> Proofread by the wonderful sombraguerrero.

Saying that it’s been a pretty bad day for Jackie would be a massive understatement.  
How bad can things really get? Getting kidnapped at a funeral, being tossed into the hands of a rival triad and getting mercilessly beaten up already set the bar pretty high. But no, they had to top it off by burying him alive on a remote island. He had been under there all alone for who knows how long, screaming and panicking, desperate to claw his way out of the makeshift coffin.  
The thought of dying like an animal caught in a trap further fuels his fear; the fear of being forgotten and abandoned inside that dark tight space where it gets harder and harder to breathe. The screaming turns into sobbing, tears are running down his face as he is praying, to anything or anyone, that someone will notice he’s gone and come find him.  
However, the more time passes, the more hopeless everything seems.  
After some time, he stops struggling, but his breathing continues to hyperventilate whenever the thought of death crosses his mind, just like the roaring waves that crash onto the shore in a series of smooth repetitive motions. The sound is making his anxiety skyrocket and is throwing his mind into a frenzy.  
“Oh shit! Oh, fuck fuck fuck! I don’t wanna die like this! Not like this! Why is this happening to me? Does anybody even notice I’m missing? Does anyone actually give a shit?!”  
Just as Jackie chokes up another sob, he suddenly hears a familiar voice shouting his name, right above him. Then the sound of dirt being scooped up, and then the creak of the box’s wooden lid as it is forcefully yanked open. A flash of light floods through to reveal the face of someone he knew he could always rely on.  
“Jackie! Jackie, shit! Oh, fuck!” Wei shouts as he pulls his friend out of the dirt.  
Jackie is gratefully gasping for fresh air as it finally enters his lungs. That feeling quickly sours, however, and he is overcome with rage instead.  
“Fucking Christ! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he yells as his fist pounds into the ground with every shot of anger that surges through his nerves. He kicks hard at the box he was trapped in until it falls apart. He’s furious at the situation he was forced into, furious at the bigger guys that are always taking advantage of him, and furious at himself for how stupid he’s been the whole time thinking that being in the Sun On Yee would get him a better life. All that just because he’d receive higher pay than back when he was just an errand boy.  
No money in the world is worth any of this bullshit. Hard lesson learned.  
“Jackie! You’re okay! You’re alive. I’m right here, brother. It’s okay,” Wei assures him as he holds onto Jackie during his breakdown.  
“I thought I was gonna fucking die down there, man! I thought I was gonna die like an animal, man…fucking… like a dog or something!” His voice breaks.  
“Come on, brother. You’re okay. I got your back.”  
“Fuck!” Jackie yells again before punching the ground one last time.  
Wei helps him up on his feet and guides him towards the motorboat that’s waiting for them by the shoreline. Walking turns out to be a familiar motion that’s easy to fall into. Jackie’s head clears enough to fully realize that Wei just saved his life.  
“Wei? Thanks, bro,” Jackie says quietly. Wei nods and pats his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

The ride back to the mainland is a somber moment. A wake-up call. Jackie has shared his concerns and doubts about staying in the Sun On Yee before, but what just happened was the final straw. If he had to pinpoint when it all started to go downhill, it would be the day of his initiation. His first kill. It was a taste of the future with the triad and he was terrified by it. He never had to cross that line before. Stealing contraband from other gangs and running errands for Winston was all that he’s been doing. No bloodshed needed.  
But ever since then, that feeling of uncertainty has been gnawing at him. And now? He’s dead exhausted from it. He’s tired of losing sleep, tired of having to look over his shoulder everywhere he goes, tired of giving into paranoia. For a while now, he couldn’t help but feel a certain kind of dread, an intuition warning him that something worse might happen. As it turns out, that hunch has been spot on. And he finally decides, right then and there, that he has had enough. He wants out. And he makes it loud and clear to Wei who is driving them back to the mainland’s dock.

Over the roaring of the boat’s engine, Wei listens intently to his friend speaking his mind, a conviction in his voice. While he does feel pity and sympathy for what Jackie had to go through, it’s making him realize how desensitized he is to it all. He’s always going to run into danger no matter where he goes. That’s just how it is with his line of work.  
Jackie however, always had the choice. Only now he’s gotten in too deep. This kind of life just isn’t for him. A disturbing thought begins to bubble in Wei’s head. Maybe he had been the one responsible for pushing Jackie down this road. He probably shouldn’t have made him go through the initiation in the first place. He makes a mental note to come back to that later. For now, he needs a favor.  
“Come to the election. Tell them what happened. Just tell your story. I’ll make sure they treat you right.”  
Jackie looks at him with wide eyes, his nerves flaring up for the umpteenth time that day. He’d most likely have to face Big Smile Lee again, that scary fucker. But now he wouldn’t be doing it alone. This time, Wei would be there by his side, providing protection and emotional support. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone stood up for him like this.  
“Shit, man,” Jackie says, shaking his head, “Alright. But this is for you, Wei. Not the fucking Sun On Yee!”  
“Thanks, man. With that, Big Smile Lee is done, trust me.”  
Jackie mumbles something along the lines of “Whatever” and follows Wei to exit the boat when he docks.  
“So what do you wanna do now, Jackie? The election’s tomorrow. We’ll want to check out the building, make sure Big Smile Lee isn’t planning any surprises. But we got some time to kill.”  
Jackie catches maybe half the words Wei’s saying, only registering that his friend doesn’t need anything from him just now. He stares off to the horizon in the direction they just came from, across the waters to the island where he was buried.  
He closes his eyes to suppress a shudder. When he does that, he notices how heavy his eyelids are, how easy it would be to just leave them closed. But he would never do that in a public place. Letting your guard down like that can get you killed. Jackie isn’t your average violent gangster, but the time in the triad has taught him that much.  
“I dunno. Got a lot of shit to think about,” he finally says and turns to leave the pier, “Right now, I just wanna go home.”  
For some reason, watching Jackie’s figure leaving the pier doesn’t sit right with Wei. After a moment, he hesitantly asks, “You sure you want to be left alone? Big Smile Lee will know you got out alive. Chances are he might come for you again."  
Jackie looks back at him and says nothing for a few seconds. “Shit. You think so?”  
“Just a hunch. But it’s completely up to you.”  
Jackie glances around nervously and shifts the weight between his feet. “Umm...well, I guess if what you say is true, then …,” he trails off for a bit, “Do you...mind taking me back home?”  
“No problem. Come on, I’ll give you a lift,” Wei offers.

Red lights suck. They represent everything Wei doesn’t need right now. Stopping. Slowing. All he wants to do is to get his friend home as soon as possible. It takes every ounce of his self-control not to take the opposite lane and speed up to get there faster. Shaken up as he is, Jackie probably wouldn’t appreciate that, though. Wei realizes how much he has lost himself in his own thoughts to forget how his friend must be feeling right now. His anger goes up in smoke. Worry takes over instead. How the hell do you process being buried alive?  
“You gonna be alright?” he asks and immediately regrets it. What do you say to someone who just went through something that horrible? Definitely not that.  
“Hm-hmm,” Jackie answers instantly. For the entire ride, he’s not allowed himself to space out, staying hyper-alert to everything around him. When the engine goes out, he doesn’t immediately make a move to get out of the car and nervously stares at his feet.  
“Come on, let’s get you home,” Wei says, voice sounding less compassionate than he wants it to. Jackie’s apartment is located in an alleyway too narrow for cars and it takes a two-minute walk to get there. For that time, they settle into a silence that is somewhere between companionable and awkward.

Climbing up the stairs and walking over to the front door of his unit, the tension in Jackie’s shoulders seems to go down a notch. He then turns to face his friend. “Thanks, man,” he says sincerely, looking Wei straight in the eyes, “you really saved my life today.”  
“I’ll always come for you.”  
Is what Wei wants to reply. A nonchalant “Don’t mention it”, is what actually comes out. He’s torn between wanting to make Jackie feel safe and staying true to what he can give. Ever since the initiation and Jackie being obviously conflicted about it, the urge to be honest with his friend grows stronger every day. It’s hard to be open and sincere when your entire job is all about holding your tongue on a short leash.  
“And thanks for bringing me home.”  
“Sure.” This time, Wei at least manages to offer a warm smile along with the reply. He knows he’ll do his damndest to help his friend where he can. His gaze falls towards Jackie’s hands. The knuckles of his slender fingers are white from balling up into fists for so long. Wei can sense that his friend still feels uneasy. He notices the way Jackie takes a little too long to find the hidden key in the potted plant beside the door and struggles to turn the lock.  
“Shit, he’s more shaken up than he lets on,” Wei thinks. Being alone in a state like that is the absolute worst. Wei knows that from the experience of the countless nights he went without sleep. “Come on words, get out already,” he spurs himself inwardly.  
“Hey… so I don’t have anything else important to do right now. If it makes you feel any better, I could spend the night at your place.”  
Jackie pauses and looks up at that.  
"Really? You'd do that?"  
"Yeah, if that's okay with you,” Wei says with a shrug and an easy smile.  
"Thanks, man,” Jackie lets out a sigh of relief. The atmosphere between them gets noticeably lighter. “Y’know, I thought about what you said earlier… and you're right. I don't think I wanna be alone right now."

Stepping inside his home and smelling that familiar odor is the first thing Jackie needs to cool his head. The second thing is a long shower.  
“Sorry for the mess in here,” Jackie says as he quickly goes over to the coffee table in the living room and clears out all the trash and leftovers, “but go ahead and make yourself at home. I’m gonna go clean myself up. There’s a couple of beers in the fridge if you want one.”  
Wei nods as he takes off his shoes by the doorway. “Okay, thanks.”  
He steps onto the smooth wooden floor and takes a look around the room, checking out his friend’s place for the first time. It’s not that spacious but the size is reasonable enough for one or two residents.  
The walls are painted in a light blue-ish gray which must have looked nice at one point. Sustained sunlight exposure and the passage of time dulled the color and there are spots where it’s already chipped off.  
Above a dark gray futon, the wall is decorated with a single framed picture showing a foggy mountain landscape. Across from it is a white stand with a flat-screen TV and a ceramic vase on top of it. On the adjacent corner stands a sideboard cabinet next to a narrow bookcase that’s halfway filled with DVDs, CDs, magazines, and a cute little Fortune Cat that serves as a bookend.  
From the looks of it, it seems the shelves haven’t seen much cleaning recently, the surfaces all covered with visible dust.  
On the farthest side of the room is a square dining table with two chairs on either side of it. A black laptop and a stack of junk mail are taking up the table’s space. Above his head, the ceiling fan is missing a blade. God knows how that thing broke off. Crossing the room and walking under it, Wei doesn’t really want to know.

He gets pulled out of his observations by the buzzing of his phone in his pocket. It’s a text from Teng with a follow-up on the intel he supplied her with weeks ago. He figures he doesn’t need to meet with her over it immediately and sends a brief answering text instead. Wei is suddenly reminded where he is when he hears the shower starting to run in the next room. A pang of guilt hits him. How would Jackie take it if he ever found out? Especially now, after he’s been through so much bullshit.  
He banishes the thought from his mind. Wei is determined to be there for his friend right now, whichever way he can.

While he makes his way towards the couch, his gaze falls on the top of the sideboard. A bunch of photos lay there, spread out all over the place, some of them with crumpled edges. Wei can’t help his curiosity and takes a closer look.  
The photos are unordered as if they were hastily pulled out from their original place of storage. To Wei’s surprise, they are photos of Jackie’s childhood. The images are tainted with age, thin scratch lines are scattered all over. The unsaturated colors further add to create a nostalgic look.  
He immediately recognizes the place in the backgrounds of them: the backyard of Old Prosperity. From the dates on the backs of the photos, Wei concludes that Jackie must have been around nine years old at the time they were taken.  
As Wei rummages through them, one series of photos catches his eye. It’s showing him as well. He and Jackie, as little kids, playing in that dirty little wasteland for a yard. He can vividly remember that day when Jackie’s uncle was still around at the time. He’d gotten a new camera from the flea market the day before and was itching to try it out. But the boys weren’t too eager to pose as models and thus a lot of photos show them pulling grimaces and sticking their tongues out.  
After some time, however, the friends completely forgot about the adult in their presence and carried on playing as if he wasn’t even there. At the time, Jackie was obsessed with the grasshoppers buzzing about in the unkempt grass of the yard. Those seemed to be the only living things thriving in that wasteland. Then again, Wei wasn’t so sure about that when he got to the next photo.  
It was showing him and Jackie, absolutely ecstatic after they had caught a grasshopper with their bare hands and holding it in front of the camera like it was the trophy of a lifetime. The kids in that photo look so innocent and carefree. “The old dog did have an eye for photography, after all,” Wei muses to himself. When the sounds of the running shower subside, he pulls himself back to the present. So much has happened since then.  
Assuming Jackie is gonna be done soon, Wei sits down on the futon to wait for him. It takes a good ten minutes until he notices that he has gotten lost in thoughts again.  
Those old photos of him and Jackie when they were kids somehow stick with him. They were so close. They used to hang around together so much that some neighbors assumed they were brothers. Being apart for fifteen years barely put a dent in their friendship. Wei can only hope it will stay that way despite his ulterior motives.  
His thoughts get interrupted by his stomach rumbling violently. It reminds him that Jackie must be starving by now. Takeout seems like a good idea. He walks up to the bathroom door and knocks.  
“Yo, I’m gonna order us something from the Golden Koi,” he announces over the closed door, “Any preferences?”  
“Uh, yeah,” comes the reply, “wait, hold on a second.” Some shuffling can be heard from the other side as if Jackie were struggling with something.  
“Are you okay in there?”  
“Yeah, I …” More shuffling. “Actually, I think I might need some help.”  
Wei opens the door to see Jackie standing topless, with his back to the bathroom mirror, fruitlessly trying to tend to wounds on his backside. Wei is taken aback at just the sheer quantity of them. Jackie’s arms, ribs, and his back are spotted with cuts and bruises.  
“Shit. That looks pretty nasty.”  
Jackie sighs, “Yeah. 18k really knows how to fuck a guy over.”  
Having his own share of experience with patch-ups, Wei knows exactly what to do. Thankfully, Jackie’s medicine cabinet is stocked decently enough. A comfortable silence falls over them as Jackie lets his friend help him with his injuries.  
Each wound patched up, each bruise treated, Wei’s conviction grows more certain: It’s his fault. Because he used Jackie to jumpstart his career in the Water Street Gang, because he dragged him along as he rose through the ranks, it had come to this.  
“Look, man, I …,” he begins, but words fail him. He feels saying sorry would never be enough for all the lies he has to tell his friend, for all the things he's done that have effectively ruined Jackie’s life.  
“It’s cool,” Jackie suddenly interrupts him, without turning to face Wei, but with certainty in his voice, “You probably want to say you’re sorry, but you didn’t do any of this.”  
Wei refrains from answering “Yes, I did” and instead focuses on applying a salve on the bruises on Jackie’s back that should reduce the swelling.  
“We wouldn’t be in this situation if I hadn’t pushed you to join the Sun On Yee with me”, is what he settles on. Rational conclusions like these are the last thing that's holding his guilt-ridden mind together.  
“Maybe,” Jackie mumbles and it sends another pang of guilt straight to Wei’s gut. “But it’s not like I didn’t want it. I mean, did you listen to me? Always rambling about how I wanted to run with Winston’s gang ... I was a fucking idiot.“ The men make eye-contact in the mirror and Wei sees how Jackie chuckles darkly and shakes his head. He finishes treating the wounds.  
“I’m sorry, Jackie,” Wei says and means it.  
“Nah, man,” Jackie dismisses and picks up the t-shirt on the dresser next to him, “if anything, I should be thanking you. I made stupid decisions and you kept me alive through all of them.” Wei is touched by the gratitude of his friend and by how mature and serene he carries himself. “Of course.”  
Jackie’s stomach disrupts the moment with an audible roar. “Right, about that takeout,” he chuckles.  
“I’m on it, what do you want?”  
“Hmm … some sweet and sour pork would be awesome right now.”  
“Got it.”

While Wei is ordering at the Golden Koi, he sees Jackie picking up the very photos he was previously looking at.  
“Been a long time, eh?” Jackie comments when the call ends and hands Wei the photo. It’s the one where they are rejoicing over the caught grasshopper.  
“Yeah. I remember that.” He cracks a smile. “Your uncle sure didn’t appreciate having that thing spring at him when he opened his bag.”  
“He almost broke his camera!” Jackie exclaims and they both break into laughter. “Man, everything was so much simpler back then,” he sighs after a while.  
“Yeah.” And a lot less life-threatening, in any case. They settle down on the couch.  
“So, what now? I just turn up at the election tomorrow, call Big Smile Lee out on his bullshit and that’s it?”  
“Pretty much. He hasn’t been in good graces with the other Red Poles for a while now. He’s done, one way or another.”  
“Hmm, if you say so.” For a moment, Jackie seems to consider what to say. Wei says it for him.  
“You still want out.”  
“Yeah. After today … I’m telling ya, I’m so fucking done.” This time, Jackie’s voice is not desperate and angry, but firm and collected as he voices what he wants.  
“It’ll be alright,” Wei reassures his friend. They are both equally bound to the triad ever since the initiation, but recent events have stirred a lot of shit up. Big changes are going to happen, and soon. Jackie would find a way.  
“You know, I’m kinda glad Winston doesn’t have to see everything going to shit like this.”  
“We both are,” Wei thinks and catches himself wanting to dismiss that thought immediately. He was trained to never form attachments or bonds when undercover. “Well, that ship has long sailed,” he concludes silently and is surprisingly fine with it. Sure, Winston was a hot-headed brute that pushed everybody around, but he did a good job keeping Jackie safe for all those years Wei was in the US.  
“I think he knew,” Jackie says as if having read Wei’s mind, “Maybe Winston never let me in on the big stuff because he knew I wasn’t cut out for it.”  
“He was a good guy.”  
“Yeah.”  
Once again, a somber moment between the two friends is interrupted, this time by the doorbell. The food has arrived. And it is amazing.  
Golden Koi takeout never disappoints. They both know that and still appreciate their favorite dishes like it’s the first time they’re having them. Wei and Jackie continue to reminisce about their childhood and joke around over the meal. When they’re done, they both inwardly come to the same conclusion: Food makes everything better.

Jackie expresses as much with a drawn-out sigh as he slouches onto the couch next to Wei.  
“Better?”, Wei asks with a smile.  
“Much better”, Jackie answers and leans his head back onto the couch’s headrest. This almost feels normal to him. Slouching off with his best bro on the couch with only one thing missing.  
“Hey, those beers in the fridge ...,”  
“Right! I’m on it,” Wei says, already standing up and heading to the kitchen. A few moments of shuffling follow. “Aaand jackpot!” he announces with a grin while holding up two ice-cold cans of beer. It’s even one of the less crappy brands. With his back still turned away from Jackie, Wei opens them and makes his way back to the couch.  
In the meantime, Jackie has moved to sit on a stool by the coffee table. In his hands is an acoustic guitar that must’ve always been standing somewhere in the living room, but Wei has never noticed it. He watches as Jackie stretches his hands to will them to stop shaking.  
Wei quietly puts the cans on the table and wordlessly sits back on the couch.  
With the sound of soft first notes, Jackie relaxes into his posture. Gradually, the chords become more pronounced. He loses himself singing the lyrics of a beautiful indie song. Muscle memory moves his hands over the frets and strings automatically. It looks so fluid, it’s as if his fingers are dancing on every note.  
Jackie singing and playing the guitar is making Wei feel a lot of things. Surprise, for one, as he’d never known this side of his childhood friend. The lyrics are deep, thoughtful and incredibly melancholic.

_Stressed out  
Feelin' lost and I don't what to do now  
What I chose ain't really gonna work out  
Fallin' six feet underneath the floor now  
Think I'm gonna tap out  
_

_Feel bad, go to bed  
Wake up even worse, yeah  
So sad in my head  
Feelin' like a curse  
I need medicine, medicine, medicine  
All my skeletons out for the taking  
I don't even know if I'ma make it  
I'm afraid of myself and I hate it  
All my skeletons out for the taking  
Somebody take 'em  
_

Wei can empathize with feeling this lost, but he could never express it. He can’t help but feel bitter about the irony: The song, as much of a soothing effect it may have on Jackie, is incredibly reflective of what he must be going through right now. The next verse takes the parallels even further.

_I wanna ride away  
The day to day is taking its toll on me  
And I'm tearing at the seams  
Throw it all away  
Give a fuck about what they say  
I gotta disagree  
This ain't really fun for me  
_

It becomes painfully clear to Wei just how much life in the triad didn’t fit Jackie. He regrets pushing him onto this path just because he needed it to achieve his own goals.  
In contrast to the doubts he’s having, there is also pride surging up in him. There was no denying it, Jackie was just damn good at this.  
The calming effect of his music didn’t escape Wei, either. If he wasn’t so impressed by what he was seeing, he may have even allowed himself to close his eyes in relaxation. As the chorus goes on, it takes his thoughts away from the Triad, from being Undercover, from the horrifying bullshit that was this day. At this moment, there is only Jackie and his music. Seeing the tension melt away from Jackie’s shoulders and seeing his frown disappear makes Wei feel incredibly relieved.  
A peaceful silence settles between them when the sound of the last note fades away. Jackie still hasn’t opened his eyes when Wei breaks it.  
“Wow … just, wow.” Jackie smiles so easily when he opens his eyes.  
“Thanks”, he says and looks away, a hint of a blush creeping up his cheeks, “thought it’d do me some good. It kinda calms me down, you know?”  
“Glad to hear it.” He truly was. Suddenly, Wei remembers a conversation they had a while ago.  
“Heh. And here I thought you said you weren’t cut out for anything else.”  
“Uh … yeah?”  
“Then what’s that you’re doing?” Wei asks, gesturing towards the guitar with his beer can.  
“What? Do you think I could make a living out of this? Going out and performing on the streets? Living the high life with a few measly dollars?”  
Wei shrugs. “Or you could get lucky on SoundCloud or Youtube.”  
“Wow,” Jackie scoffs, then lets out a chuckle, ”I’m actually flattered you have that much faith in me. But being a starving artist isn’t gonna pay the bills, chief.”  
“Does Jiu Mei know you can play the guitar?”  
“Umm.... nope. Well, not yet anyway. I thought maybe I could, I dunno, surprise her later down the road?”  
“Oh? Like a serenade?” Wei asks and raises an eyebrow.  
“Maybe?” Jackie shrugs, “But I don’t know if she’d like that. What if she thinks it’s corny? What if I’m just gonna embarrass her?”  
“Why would you think that?”  
“Looked up relationship stories online. Turns out not everybody likes to be serenaded at, believe it or not.”  
Wei rolls his eyes but keeps smiling fondly. “Jackie, what did I say about taking chances?”  
That draws a heavy sigh from his friend. “Yeah, yeah. You can’t always wait for the world to hand you what you want.”  
“Just go for it, man,” Wei says. He leans forward on his elbows, tone serious, “If a girl won’t appreciate you for your talents, then chances are she’s not the one.”  
“Ok, fine. We’ll see about that, I guess,” Jackie concludes with another shrug, “But first, we have to follow the universal law of what happens whenever someone reveals they play the guitar,” he announces with a shit-eating grin and strums a chord.  
“The law of what… oh my god.” Jackie’s grin grows wider as Wei realizes and erupts into laughter. “Hit it, man!” he urges him on. And oh boy, does he hit it.  
Not a minute later after that moment and only hours after Wei has saved Jackie from certain death, the two friends are having the time of their lives.  
“ _And after aaaaaaaaall —_ “ Jackie’s giving it his all and Wei prepares to join in.  
“ _You’re my Wonderwaaaaaaall~!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics used in this story are from a song called "Skeletons" by Keshi.


End file.
